Job growth still high, but layoffs increased in Q3

Employment growth in Singapore went up, although layoffs also rose in the third quarter, according to a report by the Ministry of Manpower.

In a reversal of the declining trend in the last two quarters, job openings increased in Q3. The seasonally adjusted vacancies went up by 13% over the quarter to 51,500 in September this year.

For every 100 job seekers, there were 125 job openings in Q3, up from 91 in June and 105 in March this year.

However, layoffs went up after declining in the preceding two quarters. While it was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, they remained substantially below recessionary highs.

Total employment grew by 26,200 in the third quarter of this year, moderating from the growth of 31,900 in the same period last year and 31,700 in the second quarter of this year.

In the first nine months of the year, total employment grew by 85,100 – similar to the increase of 85,000 in the corresponding period last year.